


Not Your Way

by FukaiFox



Category: Overwatch (Video Game)
Genre: Author doesn’t know how to write hand-to-hand combat or how to disarm a gunman, Blood, Canon-Typical Violence, Gun Violence, Other
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-12
Updated: 2018-10-12
Packaged: 2019-08-01 05:17:43
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,207
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16278443
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FukaiFox/pseuds/FukaiFox
Summary: “Watch yourself, Master! I cannot mind your back at all times!”“Do you think me so helpless?”“Battle is not your way.”—He despised firearms. They were horribly loud and crude, and required no training whatsoever to use, lethal and dangerous in anyone’s hands. So much damage could be done with one little slip.





	Not Your Way

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you to Robotfvckers for giving me the motivation to actually get this written. Seriously, you can probably tell, but this was a blank word document this morning around 6am when I went to bed and it’s 7:30pm and it’s finished.  
> Disclaimer: I do not know how to fight. I do not know how to disarm a gunman. I looked up several references for what to do and how to write fighting, but I didn’t get much. Sorry if it’s messy.

It was supposed to just be a simple mission: defend an objective point in danger of a Talon attack and give people time to escape, protecting those caught in the crossfire. It wasn’t anything new, just another day in the recalled Overwatch, protecting those unable to protect themselves. Zenyatta felt immense regret that they hadn’t managed to stop this attack from happening, but at least they were able to hold them back while evacuating civilians.He healed and soothed who he could when he found those who were hiding, quietly ushering them to a path of safety when the coast was clear. With Angela here alongside them he could afford to drift back from the group some and search buildings passed for additional civilians, healing their cuts and bruises before guiding them to refuge.

 

He sighs softly as he watches a mother and her two children slip out of the building, silently thanking him with one final look over her shoulder. Zenyatta picks his legs back up, letting his anti-grav stabilize and allow him to hover while he centered himself, his orbs spinning a quick cycle around his shoulders. It hurt his spirit so to see such innocent people trampled for the selfish wants of an organization like Talon, who only wished to thrust the world into deeper chaos and destruction. What poor misguided people they must be to think that conflict and violence was the only way for humanity to evolve and grow, when peace and compassion proved so much more effective.

 

So lost in thought as he was he hadn’t noticed just how far he’d wandered from his team, suddenly looking up only to realize he couldn’t hear their voices calling orders and warnings to eachother, only the echoes of gunfire. Zenyatta sighs again and starts his way back to the main objective. He would continue his path looking for injured, but he wasn’t safe so far from everyone else. He hopes that anyone he may miss will be found on their way back, and he promises to ensure they will be found. It’s eerily quiet on these streets without the usual hustle and bustle of the crowd, the sidewalks normally packed with people forced to walk nearly shoulder-to-shoulder with eachother and strangers alike, cars in bumper-to-bumper traffic now abandoned in the street, some doors still swung wide open, keys in the ignition.

 

It’s nearly haunting.

 

But for all the quiet, it only makes the approaching individual stand out that much more. A victim in need of assistance? ...no. There is discord radiating from this person, ill will and the want for violence and fear cascading in waves from their being. There’s only the one, though, so if this person does actually wish to inflict possible harm on Zenyatta, he will be able to defend himself. After all, his didn’t spar with Genji for only the man’s benefit. He makes a slow gesture to turn and face his stalker, but before he can even address them, a sudden forceful shock wracks through his frame, a high-level EMP blast sending him flying back roughly twenty feet and into the side of a car, his titanium chassis denting the metal as though it were nothing but tin foil.

 

Sparks flicker over his body, he feels sluggish and hazy, his mind running script after script to make him move, all coming up blinking a headache inducing red ERROR with every retry.

 

**> WARNING. SYSTEM DAMAGED.**

**> COMPONENT 82-GRSCP-09 OFFLINE**

**> COMPONENT 9OP-2TC5-Z OFFLINE**

**> COMPONENT AN-716-R4V OFFLINE**

**> COMPONENTS M4L-A1 OFFLINE**

**> RECONNECTION PROCESSING...**

**> ERROR**

**> REBOOT?**

**> REBOOTING...**

**> ERROR.**

**> ERROR**

**> E#@..40rr**

Zenyatta runs diagnostic after diagnostic,trying to online his body as his attacker approaches, gun raised in his direction, and Zenyatta knows it’s loaded. His orbs roll uselessly along the concrete, unable to establish connection with his energy. His vision flickers and swirls, optics attempting to reconnect, but his head spins and his body convulses with aftershocks. He can’t worry about trying to online what’s obviously damaged, not right now. He takes a deep shuddering breath he doesn’t need and focuses. His optics are slightly damaged, but they’re coming back online, his vision gaining clarity once more.

His gyroscope is offline as well.

He has no organs, the gyroscope simply meant to keep him upright when hovering, but with it malfunctioning like this he’s somehow suffering vertigo, and were he human he’s sure he would have emptied the contents of his stomach.

His anti-grav propulsion is damaged. If he gets up, he’ll have to stand. That’s not a problem.

Most troubling of all is his orbs. He can’t connect to them, he can’t use his main line of defense. He knows how, but sparring with Genji without them had always been a choice. He had always had the option to call on them if he wished or felt like he needed them if the match got too intense. But now he had no choice, and that scared him.

 

**> COMPONENT 9OP-2TC5-Z ONLINE**

 

His optics were back on, he could see straight now at least. Zenyatta turns himself over into his front and slowly pushes himself up onto his hands and knees, trembling in every limb. He can’t sense anyone else around him, so it will just be one on one. Zenyatta looks up just in time to feel the barrel of the Talon agent’s automatic rifle against the side of his head, and the person speaks into an earpiece Zenyatta can’t see.

“Yeah, I’ve got an omnic right here. Got some weird metal necklace or something. Dunno. It was floating, though. This one of theirs?”

This person didn’t see Zenyatta as a threat without his orbs, which was a mistake Zenyatta was grateful for. They seemed to be discussing with a teammate or possible superior what should be done with him. Should they just shoot him now and be rid of him? A bargaining chip to convince the Overwatch team to surrender?

 

The conversation thankful lasted long enough for Zenyatta’s gyroscope to partially repair itself. He would be able to stand without stumbling if he managed to get his feet under him, and that had to be good enough. The omnic takes one more deep breath to steady himself before suddenly flipping over onto his back, taking hold of the gun with both hands and kicking out his feet to knock the agent back, wrenching the rifle from their own hands, and Zenyatta tossed it away where it couldn’t be reached, disconnecting the clip and throwing that in another direction.

He despised firearms. They were horribly loud and crude, and required no training whatsoever to use, lethal and dangerous in anyone’s hands. So much damage could be done with one little slip. 

 

The agent stumbles for only a moment, caught off guard by the sudden kick and they easily right themselves just in time to see Zenyatta toss their gun and its clip. They growl, reaching to their side holster and pulling out their sidearm, a 10mm pistol. They hadn’t been knocked back far, just enough for Zenyatta to safely stand, but now they were up too, pistol pointed once more at the omnic’s face and finger on the trigger.

Zenyatta dodges out of the way just in time for it to be pulled, the bullet whistling right by his head, close enough it rings in his audio processors. He strikes a hand out and grabs the agent’s wrist, twisting it up and back to aim the gun at the sky, turning his own body so his back is to the agent’s chest, kicking one of his feet back into their knee, and a metal elbow shoves into his ribs.

Through the agent’s thick Kevlar it’s hardly enough to injure them, but it stuns for a moment. The gun fires into the air. The agent steps back just enough, kicking a steel-toed boot into the back of Zenyatta’s knee, taking the omnic to a kneel. He reaches up to grab at their vest, quickly ducking down and rolling them over his shoulders and onto their back. The gun fires once more on the hard impact, and Zenyatta barely has the time to dodge this one, and it nicks his arm with a deep scratch.

 

The agent rolls onto their stomach and kicks back their legs to a sit, aiming at Zenyatta again as they both stand once more. He thrusts out his hand again, the back of his metal wrist with such a heavy impact crushing the agent’s fingers against the gun for a moment, enough for them to recoil and give Zenyatta an opening.

 

**> ERROR**

**> CANNOT CONNECT TO COMPONENTSM4L-A1**

**> RETRY?**

**YES/NO**

**YES**

**> ERROR**

 

His orbs are still offline, and he feels so weak without them readily available. It’s disorienting without their comforting hum of his own energy flowing through them. He can’t even attempt to connect to them. The loss of energy leaves him feeling empty, like a sudden snap tossing him from the Iris that gave him this control and harmony enough to harness it. The agent fires again, and again, each bullet only missing Zenyatta by millimeters as the omnic dodges and responds with quick strikes to the agent’s arms. There’s no way his team can hear this scuffle over their own symphony of gunfire.

He’s on his own.

 

The agent suddenly turns, facing the other way and Zenyatta anticipates a shot over the shoulder, but instead just as he braces for the dodge, the agent quickly reverses his turn and bashes Zenyatta in the side of the head with the handle of his pistol. Zenyatta’s head rings, pain receptors going haywire and feeding line after line of code, each ending with a bright red ERROR at the end. He’s dizzy again, falling to his knees as the Talon agent stands above him, and Zenyatta looks up in fear. The human in black and red pants heavily, and Zenyatta can see their eyes through the red visor slits, furious.

 

Zenyatta knows there’s no use trying to online his orbs again. He can only hope he doesn’t die here, it’s not how he wants it to happen. Death never has a guaranteed method, but he’d always hoped that he would “grow old”, so to speak. His processors would age and slow naturally, as is such with all technology. He wanted Genji by his side all through his life, up to the very end, until he goes into permanent sleep, and the Iris takes back the life it had so graciously given him.

 

Genji.

 

He can’t let this be how he dies. He can’t let Genji find him this way. He can hear the sound of the man’s dragon screaming its rage over the gunfire in the distance, the sound like a deep ocean, a conch shell held up to your ear.

 

 _Iris help me, please,_ he begs to the void, and he can’t help but feel like he’s going to cry, though he has no tears to do so, as his feedback to the Iris comes up

With a bright

 

Red

 

**ERROR.**

 

 

No, no no, no no no, he can’t lose his connection. The Iris is what gives him life, what gives him every reason for his being, to help and show others how to love and be loved. Zenyatta hears the click of the pistol once again and he tries the connection once more.

 

**ERROR**

 

Again.

 

**ERROR**

 

Again.

 

**E4r%o0r**

 

Again. He must. He reaches out to the golden light he knows, his body trembling with the horror he might fail before he finds it again.

 

**> CONNECTING....**

**> CONNECTION SUCCESSFUL**

 

Zenyatta suddenly glows like the sun, the agent blinded by the light as they tear their eyes from the omnic. It’s hardly his normal Transcendence, lasting hardly three seconds, but it’s enough. He manages to stand again, metal hand clasping around the Talon agent’s wrist, twisting it around and up, his other hand grabbing the barrel of the pistol and keeping it steady. The agent in black regains their sight and fights back, shoving Zenyatta roughly back, yet the omnic with such a tight grip on the gun takes it with him, wrenching it from their gloved hands as he stumbles. He sees them rush him and quickly tries to dodge, the momentum easily taking the agent to the ground but a boot around Zenyatta’s ankle takes him with them, and the gun skids off a few feet away as he crashes to the concrete road. He’s under the agent who draws a knife from a small pocket on their vest, and Zenyatta knows it’s to cut the wires in his neck. It would offline him permanently.

 

Zenyatta grabs their wrists in his own strong fingers and fights, pushing back as hard as he can, but it slips and slips and he can almost feel the knife slide under his chrome chest near his core. Another burst of energy from the Iris and Zenyatta manages to pull his legs up, firmly settling them on the agent’s chest and kicking them off. He scrambles back from under them towards the pistol as the agent rushes him again, no doubt intent on grabbing the gun before Zenyatta can. The omnic quickly turns onto his front and lunges the last few feet towards the weapon, grasping it tight in his hand, turning back to the agent only a meter from him and-

 

The gun fires.

 

The agent in black stills for only a moment before collapsing, blood trickling out from a perfect circle in the helmet, right between their eyes and pooling on the ground.

 

There’s red splattered across Zenyatta’s chest and face, the omnic shuddering and quivering, gun clicking against his metal fingers. It takes him a moment to process what’s just happened, what he’s just done, and when he does he immediately drops the weapon, kicking his body away from it until his back hits the hard wall of a building. The agent just lays there in the street, dead from a bullet belonging to his own gun, and Zenyatta can only stare at the body.

 

**> WARNING. SYSTEM OVERLOADING.**

**> SYSTEM OVERHEATING**

**> UNSAFE TEMPERATURES REACHED**

**> WARNING. SYSTEM REBOOT IMMINENT.**

**> ERROR. CANNOT REBOOT.**

**> FORCE MANUAL REBOOT?**

**YES/NO**

**NO**

 

 

He refuses to shut down, to reboot and let his body fix itself. He must face what he’s done. Zenyatta is no stranger to violence, and he knows he’s killed on these missions before, but he laments for every life he takes. He feels no sense of accomplishment amongst such death, even if in the end it meant the saving of innocent lives. Zenyatta pulls his knees to his chest and hides his face away in his hands, his vocalizer chirping with hiccups and static, frizzing with shaky breaths he has no need to take, but he must. He can’t cry, but he does.

 

**> COMPONENTS M4L-A1 ONLINE**

**> COMM SYSTEM RESTARTING...**

**> CONNECTED**

**> CHANNEL NAME: OVERWATCH - GROUP 1 CONNECTING...**

 

His orbs slowly roll in his direction from where they had scattered, gathering at his feet in a circle. His audio fizzes as his system attempts connecting back to his team. Zenyatta hadn’t even noticed the gunfire in the distance had stopped.

 

**> CONNECTED**

 

_‘Zenyatta! Come in, Zenyatta where are you!? Master Zenyatta!’_

Tracer

 

_‘Zen? Where y’at buddy??’_

McCree

 

_‘Zenyatta?! Where did you go?’_

Mercy

 

_‘Zenyatta! We need you back! Where are you?!’_

D.Va

 

_‘Master!!’_

....Genji

 

Zenyatta takes a deep breath, and activates his comm.

“....I am here. I.. I apologize.. I didn’t intend to wander so far from the team..” He says quietly, everyone letting out deep sighs of relief that he’s alright.

 

_‘Master! Are you okay? Where are you?!’_

 

“I am well, Genji. I.. I am back towards the way we came.”

Zenyatta looks around and spots street signs.

“Cason Street.. I-I’m next to a blue building. A hotel, I think.” His voice sounds so far away, even to his own voice. He knows Genji must tell something is wrong.

 

 _‘Master... We are on our way back. Stay where you are, we’ll be there soon.’_ Genji says, just as calm and collected as someone who is all but on the inside. Genji’s dragon must sense something wrong with its mate, writhing in agony beneath Genji’s skin. The spirit had such a draw to the Iris, such a deep connection that the two were truly in harmony.

 

“...I will remain here.” He says. Not because he feels the need to stay until found by his team, but he can’t bring himself to move. He sighs and crosses his arms over his knees, and rests his head on them. It’s not much later when he hears the distinctive sounds of Angela’s wings fluttering about, and Lena’s small blinks in and out of time to teleport to his location faster. He hears McCree’s spurs next, clinking gently with every step. Next is the soft tapping on Genji’s own metal feet. Hana must be without her mech, because he can hear her voice unaccompanied by a speaker system and heavy mechanical footsteps. He slowly stands and turns to face them, his orbs slowly floating up into orbit around his neck.

There’s a gasp from someone at the sight of blood splatter on his body, but he shakes his head.

“I am... I am alright.” he assures. Brigitte or Torbjörn may have to do some minor repairs to his physical body where he was grazed by the bullets, and his gyroscope will need to be tuned so he can hover once more, but he is otherwise unharmed.

 

He sighs as McCree approaches him quietly with Genji in tow, offering the omnic his serape to clean himself of the blood.

“Ain’t the worst this thing’s cleaned. Ain’t the most either.” he said, gently wiping down Zenyatta’s faceplate and part of his chest of the blood with the fabric.

“C’mon buddy, time to get.” He said softly, patting Zenyatta on the back.

Everyone had no doubt seen the body and the gun and put together what had happened, and felt some level of pity. Zenyatta nodded and thanked the cowboy, then turned to Genji as the group slowly started to make their way back to the Orca.

“Master, I-“

“Genji-“

 

The two looked to eachother and stared for a moment, before Zenyatta just sagged, keeping his gaze away from the corpse in the street.

“...it was an accident.” he said quietly, and Genji nodded.

“I know, Master. Come. We will talk later. I believe you need some rest first.” He said, taking the omnic’s hand and gently leading him along with the group back to the ship. He doesn’t quite remember the walk back, suddenly becoming aware of his surroundings again when Genji leads him off to a more quiet area of the Orca and pulls a curtain back to separate them, and Zenyatta is gently sat on a soft cushion with a warm blanket draped over his shoulders. He has no need for a “shock blanket”, the effects of weight lost on him, but he can feel the warmth, and it’s appreciated. He silently leans on Genji and lets his orbs spin around before dropping them low to orbit, tinkling out a chime before the short song begins, and it eases the two into meditation and reflection.

 

He will be alright.

**Author's Note:**

> Guess I can only write angst. This originally was just gonna end with Zenyatta crying but I felt like that would have been to upsetting, so I gave it more of a happy-ish ending.


End file.
